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Friday, November 30, 2012

Chopped Meat Pie - The Beginning of Tourtière

Another manner of making a chopped meat torte.
Choose the flesh of calf or capon, or another good Meat, remove the skin, the nerve, & the bones, then chop this flesh well & fine, & pound in a mortar; add there a little fresh cheese, & as much old cheese which is rasped or cut very finely, add approximately six well beaten eggs, & as much as needed ox marrow, or fat which is cut thinly, mix these things together & season them with a little salt, & a little [mixed or pastry] spices or powdered cinnamon.
Put a bottom crust of puff paste in your tourte plate, spread your meat mixture evenly, & cover it with a lid of puff paste; make a small hole in the middle, & cook this torte sufficiently.

This would appear to be the beginnings of the French or Canadiene's tourtière, or meat pie. Janna includes two recipes that are pretty close and will give you proportions of ingredients. Using quatre épices, a mixed or pastry spice, will insure unique flavor and keeping abilities, as these pies are often served cold or at room temperature.

5 comments:

Is it possible or probable that this recipe or Tourtiere could be associated with the Natchitoches Meat Pies that are famous in Louisiana? St. Denis (the founder opf Natchitoches, was a Canadien, as were his bosses, Iberville and Bienville.

Jon,Natchitoches Meat Pies look like Pasties, which are a recipe included in Massialot's Court & Country Cook, translated in 1702 from his 1691 book. Rissoles are another possibility, p.234-5.Thanks for the headsup about the Natchitoches Meat Pies.

Old cheese is simply the end of the chunk or the rind minus any wax. Old cheese grated or chopped fine and mashed with other ingredients will melt and taste just fine. If a bit of mold is showing, merely cut it off before grating. No need to throw it out because it may have lost some of its moisture or oil.

Explore with me 18thC French cuisine as a habitante in Nouvelle France may have cooked. After the F&I War, and again after the Revolutionary War, habitantes were surrounded and overrun by Anglo and other American influences. By the end of the 18thC, new foods and new methods of cooking would change her culture forever.